Better As They Go
by SomethingMoreCreative
Summary: Because Percy can get jealous too, and sometimes, he doesn't believe that things are ever going to get better. Percabeth. One-shot. Percy-centric.


**A/N: Hey! It's me again!**

**Alright, so this is set in the summer before Percy and Beckendorf's mission. I've always thought that Percy could be one of those extremely jealous people even though we never see any of that in the books (which I think is unfair). Lately, I've been a little obsessed with jealous Percy, and this is the outcome of that!**

**Hope you like it! Leave me a review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

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Percy was standing off to the side of the pavilion, leaning against one of the columns. It was just after breakfast, and he was waiting for his sword class to start.

Okay. And maybe he was kind of hoping that Annabeth would walk down to the arena with him. So maybe he _was _waiting on her. So what?

Normally, he just waited in the pavilion with her until she was ready to go, but lately when he was with her she was… distant. He knew they were still friends, but with the war, and Luke and Rachel… Well, things were just complicated.

He was going to wait on her today, (screw whatever was going on between them, he missed her) but when he found her in a heated discussion with one of her siblings and Clarisse, he knew that if he walked over there she would just roll her eyes and ignore him all day.

So here he was. Standing off to the side, waiting for her.

He really did miss her. He missed the way things used to be between them. They used to talk and laugh and tease each other without any of the weird stuff that was going on between them now.

Gods, he even missed how she smelled.

And (despite popular belief) Percy wasn't stupid. He knew what was happening between them. He just couldn't admit it yet.

Finally, Annabeth walked out of the pavilion.

But she wasn't alone.

An Apollo camper, Percy thought his name was Aaron, was at her side, walking so close to her that their shoulders brushed. Sure, it was normal for guys to come up to Annabeth and flirt with her, but she normally shut them out or beat them up.

She was smiling. And laughing. At that _other guy_.

Percy's vision tinged with red. His breathing was ragged and there was some kind of growling that he thought was coming from his throat. Percy wanted to take Riptide and cut the guy's head off. Then he wanted to grab Annabeth and put her back at his side where she belonged.

They didn't see Percy standing there. They walked down the hill toward the arena. Annabeth laughed the entire way.

He couldn't figure out why. She hadn't laughed while she was around Percy in a _long _time, and she definitely hadn't smiled at him in a while. So why was she smiling around that… that _loser? _He wasn't worth it! He wasn't even worth standing near her!

Was Annabeth really interested in that Apollo guy? And why was she? Couldn't she see that Percy _absolutely adored_ her? Was he not good enough for her?

"Percy."

Someone's voice broke him out of his trance.

He turned to find Grover standing beside him.

"What?" He said.

"She doesn't mean it." He bleated nervously.

"Of course she does. Tell me, Grover, am I not good enough for her? Is this payback for me hanging out with Rachel?" Percy said bitterly. "I haven't seen her happy like that in a long time so obviously that guy did something right."

Grover shook his head, but his eyes gave him away. He knew it too. "No, Percy. Don't be like this."

Percy's scowl came back full force. "Leave it, Grover. I'm going to be late for my sword class."

He trudged down the hill without another word to Grover.

Ω

Actually, Percy wouldn't have been late for his sword class. Chiron had told him that he was the best swordsmen in three hundred years (yeah like he believed that) so there wasn't anybody to challenge him anymore.

He was teaching today.

When he did walk in, his class wasn't there yet so he took out Riptide and began slashing at a few of the target dummies.

_Stupid Apollo guys, and the way they make girls laugh. Stupid Rachel. Stupid Annabeth. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid-_

The next time he looked up, he had destroyed nearly all of the dummies and he was knee deep in water.

He looked around. The whole _arena_ was filled with water. He must have gotten so angry that the water from the lake had answered him.

But… he felt better. He didn't feel so angry anymore. Oh yeah, he was still pissed off, but he was more upset with himself. Why didn't he have the balls to ask Annabeth out himself? And why did he feel like he could act like this about it?

"Uh, Percy?"

Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Around him, the water stilled like glass.

He turned to see Annabeth trudging through the water toward him. The rest of his friends and class were standing up on the bleachers trying not to get wet.

Annabeth looked worried. Her eyes were a shade darker than gray today, and her shoulders were held back.

"Percy?" She said in a tone so soft he had never heard it from her before. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said forcefully, but his voice cracked.

She moved closer to him. She was so close, and she could have leaned up and kissed him.

"You're crying." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

He moved frantically to wipe his eyes. What was wrong with him? He _never _cried. "No, I'm not. I'm fine."

With a long look at him, Annabeth took his hands away from his face and wiped his tears away with hers.

"I missed you after breakfast. Why didn't you walk with me?" She asked.

Percy knit his eyebrows. "I waited for you, but you went off with that Apollo guy."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah. He wouldn't leave me alone. Normally, you walk with me and deflect all of the losers, but today I couldn't find you so I headed down to meet you. The Apollo guy jumped up beside me and decided to grace me with his presence." She explained.

Percy felt his eyes widen. Was that really true? She didn't like that other guy?

His world fell back into place, and the water swirled.

"So why are you crying? What's wrong?" Annabeth asked. "And why is the arena filled with water?"

What was he going to do now? He couldn't tell her that he had gone into caveman mode and threw a tantrum like he had lost some of his personal property. That would just make her mad.

"Umm, I had a nightmare." Percy said lamely. He couldn't really come up with anything else on the spot.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes." He said firmly.

Her eyes narrowed, but she must have seen something in his face so she wouldn't argue with him anymore.

"Okay." She said with another look at him. "Now get rid of this water, Seaweed Brain. I'm ready to take you down."

So Percy smiled and forced all of the water out of the arena. Annabeth smiled at him and whipped out her knife. Percy barely had time to call out some directions for the rest of his class before he had to defend himself against Annabeth.

Things weren't perfect between them. Gods, things weren't even _easy_ between them, but he figured that things would get better as they went.

And maybe he could be patient enough for it because she would be worth it.

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**A/N: Tell me what you think! And go check out some of my other stories! The next chapter of Minding Your Business should be out this weekend! Thanks for reading!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


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